L'Italo-Americano

THURSDAY, MARCH 23, 2023 www.italoamericano.org 14 L'Italo-Americano LA VITA ITALIANA TRADITIONS HISTORY CULTURE D e a r r e a d e r s , The many Ital- i a n c o n n e c - t i o n s in March con- tinue: Judge John J. Sirica was born on March 23, 1904, in Waterbury, Connecticut. He w a s t h e U S d i s t r i c t c o u r t judge whose search for the truth about the 1972 Water- gate break-in was the first step leading to the resigna- tion of President Richard M. Nixon. Sirica was raised in poverty in several eastern American cities and, after supporting his studies by boxing, he received his law d e g r e e f r o m G e o r g e t o w n University (1926). He was an assistant United States Attor- ney (1930-34), then he was active in private practice. In 1957, President Dwight D. Eisenhower appointed him a district judge for the District of Columbia. By 1971, his s e n i o r i t y m a d e h i m t h e court's chief judge. At the trial of the seven Watergate burglars in 1973, Judge Siri- ca's questioning of witnesses led to defendant McCord implicating officials of the Nixon administration in the crime. In two years of Water- gate trials that Sirica heard, his most significant ruling was that Nixon was obligated to deliver evidence, including White House tape record- ings, in response to a subpoe- na from the prosecution. The U n i t e d S t a t e s C o u r t o f Appeals later upheld Sirica. He ordered the Grand Jury's report on Nixon to be deliv- ered to the US House of Rep- resentatives impeachment i n v e s t i g a t i o n , a n d h e presided over the trials of Nixon's closest assistants, i n c l u d i n g J o h n M i t c h e l l , H.R. Haldemann, and John E h r l i c h m a n . H e d i e d o n August 14, 1992, in Washing- ton DC. *** Lawrence Ferlinghetti was born in Yonkers, New York, on March 24, 1919. In 1 9 5 3 h e c o - f o u n d e d C i t y Light Bookshop in san Fran- cisco and published his Pock- et Poet Series in 1955. In the 1990s, Ferlinghetti served as the official San Francisco Poet Laureate. *** Arturo Toscanini was born on March 25, 1867, in P a r m a . H e b e c a m e N e w York's chief conductor at the Metropolitan Opera House in 1909. He died in 1957. *** Fr. Juan Crespi, a Span- ish missionary with Italian parents, put his foot on the soil of the San Francisco Bay area, together with a party l e d b y e x p l o r e r G a s p e r DePortola, in March 1722. *** Fr. Marco de Niza died in March 1558. He had led an expedition with Coronado into New Mexico, Texas, and Arizona and helped build a small school there. *** Silvio Berlusconi, the right-wing media tycoon, won the general election in Italy on March 28, 1994. But the honeymoon did not last very long. *** A n I t a l i a n A r m y defeat in Adowa (Ethiopia) i n M a r c h 1 8 9 6 l e f t 7 , 0 0 0 dead. Under the elderly gen- e r a l B a r a t e r i , t h e I t a l i a n advance was chaotic, orders were misunderstood, and brigades were separated. Ital- ian Prime Minister Francesco Crispi gambled on a quick foreign conquest and lost. *** Frankie Laine was born F r a n k P a u l L o V e c c h i o o n March 30, 1913, in Chicago. His father was a barber and had many of Chicago's more notorious names among his clients. He attended Catholic school and was singing in the choir by the time he was 7. He drove to California in 1943 and went to work at Pacific Screw products, a defense plant in South Gate (some 32 miles from Holly- w o o d ) . W h e n e v e r h e h a d time off, he made the rounds of the Jazz Clubs, filling in when needed. At Billy Berg's in Hollywood, Laine sang his version of Rockin' Chair. One member of the audience — Hoagy Carmichael, author of the song — applauded wildly a n d p e r s u a d e d t h e c l u b owner to hire Frankie on a paying basis. One of his num- bers was a song called That's My Desire, which he sang one night when a record executive Advancing our Legacy: Italian Community Services CASA FUGAZI If you know of any senior of Italian descent in San Francisco needing assistance, please contact: ItalianCS.org | (415) 362-6423 | info@italiancs.com Italian Community Services continues to assist Bay Area Italian-American seniors and their families navigate and manage the resources needed to live healthy, independent and productive lives. Since Shelter-in-Place began in San Francisco, Italian Community Services has delivered over 240 meals, over 900 care packages and made over 2000 phone wellness checks for our seniors. was present, who suggested he recorded it for Mercury Records. He did, and his for- tune was made. *** Joe Di Maggio, Italian American baseball legend, died in March 1999, at the age of 84. He was born in November 1914. His father, a fisherman, was born on Isola delle Femmine, along the northern coast of Sicily. Joe joined the New York Yankees in 1936. He was born in Mar- tinez, California. A children's hospital wing in Hollywood, Florida, carries his name. *** Amerigo Vespucci was born in Florence, Italy, on March 9, 1451. He was the third son of Ser Nastagio and Lisabetta Mini. In 1505, he became a naturalized citizen of Spain and, later, he was awarded the office of piloto mayor, master navigator, of S p a i n , V e s p u c c i d i e d i n Seville, Spain, of malaria, in 1512. *** A n t o n i o V i v a l d i , baroque composer, musician, and teacher, was born on March 4, 1678. He wrote The Four Seasons in 1725, each of the four concertos represent- ing a season of the year. Writ- ten for solo violin and a small orchestra, each concerto is further divided into three movements: the first, an alle- gro, or fast, section; the sec- ond, a slow section called adagio or largo; and the third, a c o n c l u d i n g a l l e g r o , o r presto finale. When Vivaldi published The Four Seasons, he included four sonnets with the manuscript, laying out the impression he was trying to give with each season.

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